Remembering Margaret Kitchin

Margaret Kitchin's life and work has not been fully researched. Pending completion of our own work, we direct readers to Chapter 6, pages 214-244 of Lim's doctoral thesis The Reception of Women Pianists in London, 1950-60 which is based largely on interviews with Margaret, Claire, and Stephen Plaistow who supervised many of her later BBC broadcasts. Some uncertainties surrounding Margaret's early career can be resolved. She performed at concerts in Switzerland from 1939 onwards, and by 1944 in recitals for Swiss radio. Some mainstream repertoire was played in Lausanne and in the radio broadcasts but in the main her programmes featured works from the 20th century, many receiving their Swiss premieres. Margaret was awarded the Prix d'Excellence from Lausanne Conservatoire on 3 July 1945.

All the obituaries in the national newspapers contain inaccuracies, particularly the anonymous articles in The Times and The Daily Telegraph which may have perpetuated errors in an article by David Wright. The Guardian obituary, written by Stephen Plaistow, is correct apart from a sentence about Margaret's early life. There is no record of her having studied at the Royal Academy of Music, though she was awarded the LRAM in Easter 1939 (not 1949); and the date of her separation from Michael Kitchin can be put at late 1947. Margaret probably moved to England in late 1948. Lewis Foreman's obituary in The Independent was based on an interview with Margaret for a BBC Radio 3 feature on Richard Itter.